Troll or Derby - Book Review

Troll Or Derby
by Red Tash

What is it about:
In Troll Or Derby, fifteen-year-old Roller Deb is singled out by town bullies for both her skates, and her sexual orientation. When her popular homecoming queen of a sister is kidnapped by a scuzzy drug dealer, Deb must flee the trailer park in which she's grown up, and rescue her. Along the way, Deb becomes enmeshed in the magical realm of trolls and fairies, and the blood-thirsty version of roller derby at which these beings excel. But spending too much time among the fairies comes with a price. Will Deb choose to save her sister, with the aid of a mysterious troll? Or will she be lost to the lures of roller derby, and the blonde temptress April, forever?

What did I think of it:
This is a cool story.

Deb is suddenly thrown into a world she doesn't understand and even with the help of a troll she makes some rookie mistakes that might cost her her life.

The book is told from both the perspective of Deb and that of Harlow, the troll who tries to help her. I really liked Harlow. He's a proper troll: Big, strong and with some intimidating tusks. Luckily he can glamour himself so he can move among humans without causing whole populations to run in fear.

I also really liked how Red Tash had used troll and fairy mythology. She does a great job at making the trolls and fairies look and act otherwordly. They're among the creepiest trolls and fairies I've come across lately.

The story is fast paced and full of action. At times it felt a bit chaotic, but it fits the bewilderment Deb feels while the world she knew if falling apart around her.

All in all this is a cool and entertaining read. I hope Red Tash will write more books in this setting and I will certainly check out what else she has written.

Why should you read it:
It's got trolls and roller derby!


Buy the ebook here
Buy the paperback here

Teaser Tuesdays - Troll or Derby

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: - Grab your current read - Open to a random page - Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) - Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


Whatever she was, Coach's glamour worked on her. She appeared to be seeing a burning passenger van, although since Coach had glamoured over top of other spells, there were also flickers of his wooden gypsy cabin spiraling up through the smoke, as well. I wondered how she was interpreting that.
(page 42-43 (ebook version), Troll or Derby by Red Tash)